One cannot become a director just because he or she makes a film. A director should set out to make a film that had never seen before. And yes! Krish is one such director whose enthusiasm is to make real films and pass social messages to the society. That is one reason why his films are the way they are, very different from other films. Yesterday it was ‘Gamyam’ and today it is ‘Vedam’. What next? Arka Media Times’ ‘Vedam’ starring Allu Arjun, Manchu Manoj Kumar, Anushka, Manoj Bajpai and Balayya in central roles, was released on June 4th. Enjoying the successful run in theaters, director Krish aka Jagarlamudi Radhakrishna shared his views on the film. Here are some excerpts: Expressing his happiness about the response of the film Krish said, “Response for ‘Vedam’ is very heartening and quite positive. I’m very happy that the audiences are very involved emotionally through out the film. This movie will entertain all types of audience, be it class or mass. Among the international centers, particularly USA will top the box-office collection.”
Describing the film he said, “The scene involving an old man walking with a little kid haunted me even before I directed ‘Gamyam’. That scene indicates one should live for tomorrow which is the main theme of ‘Vedam’. And the film ends with the same scene after the old man frees his grandson from slavery. I wanted to narrate five different characters who hail from five different segments in the society. In this line I created Vivek Chakravarthy, the rock star belonging to high society, Raheemuddin Kureshi from a middle class background, Cable Raju from lower middle class family, Ramulu, a hard working weaver and Saroja, a prostitute who is not acceptable by the society. How the life journey of these five characters will come to an end and how it turns out to be when all of them meet at one point is all the film ‘Vedam’ about. So I created five personalities with different emotions.”
About the characters in ‘Vedam’ he said, “I wanted to bring out the reasons behind the recent suicides of weavers in Sirisilla village and that is the result of the character Ramulu. Now cable Raju is one such character where we see atleast one in our daily routine. That’s why I created this mass character that is naughty, rebel and carefree. Though it has shades of ‘Gaali Seenu’ in ‘Gamyam’, cable Raju’s character is much deeper. I created Saroja after inspired by a character in Balagangadhar Tilak’s ‘Oori Chivari Illu’. One must have the real guts to do such roles and I appreciateAnushka for doing it with great ease inspite of her star status.”
Talking about the commercial value attached to the film Krish opined, “Of late the producers are not trying anything new due to fear of the commercial failures. So they try to play it safe by sticking to formulaic films in search of minimum guarantee at box-office. But I portrayed the stories in ‘Vedam’ that are not common with other films. Though the movie is different from a conventional one I’ve ensured enoughcommercial values also through these characters. For eg: The rock star provides the relevant entertainment to people of that taste. Similarly Allu Arjun’s lively character itself is a source of entertainment.”
While speaking about the reactions of his colleagues he said, “I’ve received very encouraging comments from fellow directors after their watching the movie. One vowed to make one such movie in his life while the other said everydirector should attempt to do such movies for the betterment of the society. Director Rajamouli, known for his large and successful socio-fantasy films was very simple in his words saying ‘it cleansed my soul’ on watching this movie. Veterandirector Raghavendra Rao was so much touched about the movie that he said he remained silent for a few moments after watching the movie. What else can I ask for?”
When he was questioned about his experience between ‘Vedam’ and ‘Gamyam’ he answered, ‘Gamyam’ being my first film, I struggled a lot due to larger responsibility that included production also. But that is not the case while working for ‘Vedam’ where I concentrated only on direction and that has paid dividends.”
About the music, “After I narrated my characters to Keeravani, so much was his involvement that at times while composing the music he played keyboard himself and violin also during re-recording. The maestro, who completed 200 films in rendering musical scores, did work hard as much as he did for his first film and scored the music for ‘Vedam’ with an undisputed urge of presenting the best music.”
“Lastly, though came from the small screen, the producers of ‘Arka Media Times’ had real guts to do one such film in their first production venture and they are considering it as their life time film. My next film is also under the same banner”, Krish concluded.
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